


On Time

by maybe_maye



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode Fix-It: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace, Episode: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Jealousy, Romance, and finding a use for my many random drabbles involving nine and the gitf mess, do not take this seriously, this is me having fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25836871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maybe_maye/pseuds/maybe_maye
Summary: GitF fix-it where Rose gets the 9th Doctor to help save the 10th Doctor from being stranded in France. An excuse to write 9 meeting 10 and silly, fluffy jealousy and posturing.
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler
Comments: 21
Kudos: 120





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I don’t like GitF and I did not watch it before writing this! Have not watched it in… probably over 7 years or more lol. So my accuracy for the episode and the timeline within it is not spot on! We’re playing fast and loose with the canon y’all! Mostly just wanted an excuse to have Nine involved with this so don’t look too closely at the bad wolf hand waving I’m using to make it possible.

Rose was still standing in shock, her hands limp at her sides, heart thumping in her ears. The roar of her blood rushing was deafening as she stared at the shattered glass on the floor. 

“Rose.” 

He left her. 

“ _Rose.”  
_

He just… left her. All alone. Somewhere in time and space and all for some other woman and he _promised_ her. Just the day before. Promised he’d never leave her, not _her._

Guess she had gotten it wrong, in the end.

“Rose… babe, please.” Mickey was begging, his hand tugging on her arm. She slowly turned her head, left behind with the man she hadn’t wanted to come in the first place.

Her heart hurt and she hated herself even more. That wasn’t fair, Mickey deserved better. Better than her, better than this. 

“He left me. “ Rose whimpered, her voice cracking and betraying her even more. “He just left us Micks.” Their wide eyes searched each other, both trying to find comfort, a sense of security. 

Rose gave herself a few more seconds to be afraid, to be heartbroken and devastated and then she straightened. Squeezed Mickey's hand in hers. She wasn’t some 19 year old shop girl anymore, she had defeated worse odds. She had gotten back to the Doctor before, she had defeated millions of daleks. What was one cannibalized space ship compared to all that?

“Right, right.” She repeated slowly, spinning around and taking in their surroundings. “Okay, we’re gonna be fine, you and me.”

Mickey gave her a searching look.

“But what if he don’t come back, what if the Doctor’s left us here, all alone?” He asked quietly. She was grateful he hadn’t jumped to anger or resentment. Hadn’t threatened to bust out his ‘I told you so’ dance. “What if he can’t?” 

“He always comes back.” Rose protested. “And Doctor or no Doctor, we aren’t tin dogs.” She nudged Mickey and gave him a small smile. “We ain't just gonna sit here, we’re gonna find a way out or home or to him, or -”

She started walking quickly. “Let's get back to the TARDIS. Keep an eye out for more of those extinguisher thingies. And those clockwork things.” She shuddered, not wanting to get tied up for dissection yet again. "He can't come back through that way anyway so there's no use waiting around for him here."

As they hurried back to the TARDIS, Rose explained to Mickey why she couldn’t fly the ship when he asked and she tried to think of anything applicable from their previous journeys. And most of all she tried to not think about time streams and how years had passed in France between the minutes on the ship and how long it had been for the Doctor and - 

“Rose, breathe normally. If you pass out then I really don’t know what ’m gonna do.” Mickey interrupted her thoughts as she unlocked the door to the TARDIS. She hadn’t noticed how her chest was heaving as she tried to hold off a panic attack.

Huffing out a laugh she didn’t quite feel, they hurried inside and she raced over to the console.

“Alright old girl, I know you’re alive and I know you want the Doctor safe so work with me, please.” She addressed the pulsing column in the center of the console. While she knew better than most just how alive the TARDIS truly was, it still felt a bit silly to her and Mickey's incredulous looks weren’t helping. 

“Oh shut up.” She growled at him and he lifted his hands in defense.

“Oi, look at the big bad wolf.” His laughter trailed off at the wide eyed look Rose gave him.

“Bad Wolf…” She mussed, thoughts racing. “That’s it Micks!”

“What is?”

“Bad Wolf! That's the name I used when I joined with the TARDIS, when I flew her and …” Rose trailed off, forehead scrunching as she tried to remember, her head full of an impossible song and gold light and forbidden knowledge. 

“But you said you couldn’t do that again.”

“Open the heart no, but think about it! Bad Wolf, I saw everything. I would have seen this, why wouldn’t I have done something to prevent this? I mean I couldn’t have prevented everything, but maybe I managed to fix this."

She didn't think this logic would work with every one of their adventures but something about this just felt right and she could feel the hum of the TARDIS more than ever, urging her on. Something just felt right about it all.

"As long as we don’t know when the Doctor gets picked up, time is in flux, we could have gotten him a second after he went through the window and that’s why he didn't come back!” Rose exclaimed, beaming at Mickey.

“Huh?” 

“Oh god, look time travel is confusing and it’s got stupid rules alright?” Rose deadpanned, not feeling up to explaining the rules of Time that she barely grasped herself.

“We need someone who can fly the TARDIS, someone who can cross this timeline, so it can’t be our Doctor.” Her mind was whirling and that impossible song was in her head again. Her fingers itched and she found herself typing on the keyboard, not sure what she was doing but knowing that she could do it. That she had done it. 

“I suppose this means I could have just taught myself how to fly her but we don't know what time he's in and all I was thinking about was the Doctor, _my_ Doctor. As I knew him then, big ears and leather. I wanted him safe and I wanted him with me.” She trailed off and suddenly the faint sounds of the TARDIS’s engines wheezing filled the air. 

“ ‘m calling him home.” She finished typing with a flourish, spinning around. “Oh please let me have done this right, whatever this is.”

Rose flew down the ramp and flung open the doors in time to see another TARDIS materialize a few feet from them and a moment later the doors opened and out stepped the Doctor. Her Doctor, the first Doctor in his leather jacket with blue eyes blazing.

“Fantastic.” She whispered and beamed at the man. 

“Oh this is just fantastic.” He groused, echoing her as he took in the sight of a future TARDIS with Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith in the doorway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a trash writer and have absolutely nothing planned so please let me know what you’d prefer to see happen! I've got a bit more written but this is horribly self-indulgent and I'm open to requests!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose catches the Doctor up on what his next regeneration has been up too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I love 10 to pieces I’m just being really hard on him here because I love making 9 defend Rose’s honor and because this episodes characterization is a mess. Also sorry for making Rose a bit weepy, however I think crying is important and it doesn’t mean she’s not strong or brave. Just very tired and worn out which I think we can all relate to. She’s had a long couple of days here.

“What’s going on here?” The Doctor in leather demanded, eyeing the pair warily as he stepped out of his TARDIS. 

“Doctor…” Rose ran to him and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck.

Oh how she had missed him. Had missed the way he smelled and how his battered leather jacket felt wrapped around her. How his blue eyes twinkled and even the way he called her a stupid ape. “ ‘s good to see you.”

Rose knew the Doctor was still mostly the same man. She loved him with brown eyes and pinstripes just as much as she loved him with his daft old face and leather. And she loved how much more domestic he was this time around, how he was more tactile, and a little less burdened. 

But her first Doctor had been silly too, had smiled brightly and talked too much as well. He had held her hand, hugged her too tight, and looked at her like he couldn’t quite believe she was real. And he had held her differently, like she was the most precious thing in the world. He once stood in Downing Street and debated saving her over the entire world, no questions asked. More than once in fact. That Doctor had loved her and never would have left her. Not like this. 

The man in question hesitated a moment, his arms limp at sides, not returning her hug. 

“Doctor?” Rose pulled back briefly, stung by the cold reception. 

“What’s going on here, where am I? Where’s _my_ Rose and how the hell are you two here?” His voice was low and firm. She had forgotten how scary his quiet intensity could be.

Rose worried her bottom lip and wrung her hands before replying, afraid to give away too much and risk damaging their timeline. She hadn’t really thought about how strange and suspicious this whole scenario would seem to him, she’d been too excited about seeing him once more. 

“You can repress memories right, you told me before, when you meet yourself? So I can tell you and it won’t impact _your_ future? ‘Cause there's too much at stake and I don’t want a second of it rewritten.” This wasn’t fully true as Rose would quite like to have the last day rewritten if it didn’t mean she wouldn’t get to see this Doctor again. “I don’t want another reapers mess on my hands.”

The Doctor’s face softened and he brought his hands up to her shoulders, steadying her. Rose couldn’t help the shudder that went through her at the touch, missing how these hands had felt on her. He pulled her into a brief but tight embrace. 

“You got the right idea, I can repress this afterward, even set a trigger word so future me can be caught up quick as you like. Saves time.” 

“But Rose, what's going on?” His voice was soft now. “Cause the TARDIS is telling me it’s most certainly you and I trust you, but you have to tell me what's goin’ on.”

“Where are you in your timeline? Have we met Jack?” She asked, her heart tugging painfully at the thought of her friend. She never had gotten a straight answer out of the Doctor about his fate. She needed to know how much she had to catch him up on.

“Oh yeah I’ve met the good captain. Last thing I remember, I had dropped him off for a night of too much uh.. _dancing_ ” he wiggled his brows at her and she laughed, eyes pricking with tears at the memories of that weekend “on some pleasure planet. You and I were supposed to be stopping at your mums for a mo’ then off to see Woman Wept.’

“That’s our spot. “ She gave him the tongue touched smile that she saved just for him. 

Rose missed their designated getaway. Whenever they had a particularly dangerous adventure, he took her there afterwards, just the two of them and they would walk hand in hand under the frozen waves, stargazing and content to be the only two people in literally the whole world. 

“But here I am, Rose Tyler-less, kinda, and on what looks to be a spaceship in roughly the 51st century. And I’ve brought Ricky? Where is future me?” 

And wasn’t that a loaded question. Rose hardly knew where to begin or how much she was supposed or even able to tell him. 

“Well, uh. Firstly, you’ve regenerated recently. And don’t think I wasn’t furious over that little surprise. “

“I’ve regenerated?” He looked very shocked, Rose speculated if that meant it was a rare occurrence. He hadn’t told her much about it, the new him never gave her a chance to ask. Never stayed still long enough to really talk. “And you’ve stayed with me.”

“Still the same man, mostly.” Rose teased. “Although you took your sweet time changing, gave us a fright. You told me we were going to Barcelona, burst into flame, crashed the TARDIS and promptly fell into some coma thing.” 

“Yeah thanks for that one mate.” Mickey chimed in, reminding Rose of his presence. She flushed, realizing how quickly she had forgotten he was there. Her tunnel vision for the Doctor was becoming a bit embarrassing. 

She was comforted in the knowledge that the Doctor seemed to have forgotten about Mickey as well because he jumped slightly at the interruption, his hands briefly tightening where they still rested on her shoulders. She wondered if he realized he was tracing soothing circles, one thumb slipping under her t-shirt to caress the bare skin underneath. 

“Anyway. You’re in France somewhere in the 1700’s and you have no way back here. And you’ve stranded Mickey and I on this ship in a time and place we don’t know and we can’t get back to you or back home.” Rose felt her ire rising again and she shoved at the Doctor's chest.

He flinched at the push and her usage of the word home. Of course the TARDIS was Rose’s home but it wasn’t any use to her stranded here and Mickey still had a life to return to in 2006. 

She was getting into a proper rage now as the weight of his actions sunk in. 

“God you’re such a git! I can’t believe you left me here! Mr. ‘Not you Rose, I’d never leave _you_ ’, and 12 hours later here I am! Left behind! For some French bint who you just saw as a child, you absolute bastard!” 

“Oi, that wasn’t this me! Of course I wouldn’t leave you behind, what the hell are you on about!”

“Oh now you’re not him? Only when it’s good stuff then? You got drunk and _danced_ with bloody Madame de Pompadour and left me strapped to a table to get DISSECTED.” Rose exclaimed hotly, jabbing her finger into his chest at his bewildered look. “Then you got on _an actual white horse_ and rode through a one way mirror to save the woman when we have a time machine right there! And you have no way back!”

“Wait, hold on. Dissected?”

“Yeah! A second away from being cut up by droids and you came back singing and dancing, didn’t have a care in the world! I’m trussed up and you barely react!”

She sobered and her eyes watered again. 

“Doctor, he doesn’t even know where he left us. We don’t even know what year he went to or where in France he is! Or how long he’s been there! The timelines aren’t synced up. Plus emergency program one isn’t active anymore. Future you left us stuck on a broken ship with killer robots and no way out!”

The Doctor blanched and he hugged Rose tightly. He hadn’t missed her switching the pronouns that time. 

“Look ‘m not stupid okay, I know she’s important to history and all that. But I can’t believe you left _me,_ left the Tardis here without a second thought!” Her voice was muffled into his shoulder as he gently stroked her hair. He took a moment to admire her new hairstyle. He thought it was rather adorable, the shorter cut. 

“Imagine, Rose Tyler thinking she’s not important.” The Doctor murmured to her. “Of course you’re important. You’re always important to me.”

“Then why’d you push me away Doctor? Why do you always run?” She wasn’t just referring to this particular mishap. The Doctor always ran from her, from emotions, from any intimacy once the dust settled. He would hold her too close then take two steps back. He’d always been like this but since the regeneration it’d become maddening. 

“So you know about emergency program one then?” He asked instead, not brave enough to tackle that line of questioning just yet. 

Rose cried into his shoulder and batted at his arm weakly, letting him get away with the deflection. 

“This you I can slap for that, what an absolute bullshit line. ‘Have a fantastic life.’ How could I without you?” She asked him, pulling back and looking into his eyes. 

The Doctor’s hearts skipped a beat and they ached at the pain in Rose’s eyes, how much older she seemed already although she couldn’t be more than a year or two in his linear future. He cupped her face and brushed his thumb across the swell of her soft cheek and she shuddered, fresh tears leaking out of her eyes. 

“Oh Rose. I’m so sorry.” His voice broke and he pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. What had he done to her? He swore he would always protect her and here she was, stranded and afraid and hardened from her time with him.

“There’s one thing I still don’t understand though, besides how much of an idiot I apparently become, how am I here? Who called me to you and managed to fly the TARDIS here?” 

“I did. In your future there’s going to be a time where you send me away, with the TARDIS and you tell me goodbye. You use emergency program one. And I - “

That strange music was in her head again, it seemed like a warning. The TARDIS hummed and something that sounded faintly like the cloister bell rang in the back of her mind. 

“I can’t tell you, I’m sorry. The TARDIS, she’s warnin’ me not to let you know more. You’ll have to trust me. Future you knows though, I swear it.”

“I suppose that’ll do. Love a good mystery, me. And she’s right, the less specifics I know the better. Less risk of something bleeding through.” The Doctor sighed and extracted himself from Rose, taking a moment to gather himself and his thoughts. 

“Well then, what are we waiting for? Standing around gossipin’ like old hens. Rickey! I’ve no idea why you’ve become a blight on my timeline but here you are!”

Mickey's face soured. “Right, thanks boss. I’ll have you know you invited me. Sorta wishin’ you hadn’t though.”

The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder and beamed at him.

“Ah cheer up, ‘m here now. We’ll get this sorted. Picking myself up in France? That’s a snap, done it before I have!”

“Oh spent a lot of time in France then have you?” Mickey countered, fixing him with a smug grin. 

“Is that why you were so keen to strand yourself there? Got anymore ex’s and mistresses hanging about? Sarah Jane was one thing, ‘Cleo’ another. But you really can’t help yourself can you!” He was crowing, his newfound maturity gone in the wake of the first face of the man who had taken Rose from him. 

“Sarah Jane?” 

“Oh yeah, we met her!”

“Sarah Jane, my Sarah Jane?” The Doctor exclaimed, his voice just as excited and child-like as it had been when he had met her again as his next self. 

“There he goes again. _My_ Sarah Jane. You make a habit of stealing women away?”

The Doctor winced and saw Rose’s face shutter in the corner of his eye. This is why he didn’t say goodbye, didn’t come back. Didn’t talk about his past. He wouldn’t press anymore, he’d know soon enough what had happened to Sarah. No need to dig it up now. 

Still. Rose had to know she was different, that she was special. How could she not? He’d asked twice. He never asked twice. 

“You’re a bit pretty this time ‘round too, can’t seem to stop yourself from flirtin’ with every bird you see.” Mickey continued, delighting in getting another chance to poke holes in the relationship between Rose and the Doctor. 

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Oh believe it!”

“Mickey, stop it.” Rose hissed, hugging herself tightly. “Just leave it, right?” 

“Can’t believe it cause that’d mean ‘m not pretty now!” The Doctor interjected and winked at Rose who couldn’t help but smile a bit at his cheeky reply. 

Mickey rolled his eyes and changed his target.

“Babe, he’s gotta know what he’s done, what a twat he’s been to ya.” She could have been touched that Mickey cared so much about her feelings but Rose also knew a lot of his antagonism stemmed from him still thinking the Doctor ‘stole’ her from him, when she wasn’t anyone's to steal. He needed to accept that if he was gonna travel with them. 

“Micks, I don’t need you fighting my battles alright? Just leave it for now. ‘Sides we got bigger stuff to worry about.” 

The Doctor had already brushed them off, muttering about wasting time on domestics and was dashing about with his sonic screwdriver in hand.

“Blimey, you really are jeopardy friendly Rose.” He muttered, peering at the results. “51st century ship, enough power to punch a hole in the universe, killer droids, 18th century France. What else is there?” Pausing to sniff the air, he continued with an incredulous expression, “And someone’s cooking?” 

Rose blanched. “That would be the crew.”

“There’s no other life forms on board ‘sides us.”

“No I mean, they’re literally cooking. These clock droid thingies, they harvested the crew. Look.” She pointed to where the other Doctor had found the human heart in the walls. 

“That’s what they wanted to cut me up for. For some reason, my brain is compatible. Me and bloody Reinette are apparently the only ones that will do.”

The Doctor had fallen silent, the only noise the whirr of the sonic as he studied the innards of the ship. He was utterly still for a moment, back tense and grip on his sonic tight. 

“How much of a stupid ape do I become then?” He whirled around and Rose recognized the look on his face, that cold detachment when he was absolutely furious. When he walked that fine line between taking charge and a complete loss of control.

Her heart skipped a beat from fear and a little bit of arousal.

Rose loved when he got like that, loved when he got all worked up, even if it meant she was in danger. He’d told her mum trouble was just the bits in between but oh if they didn’t live for those bits. She’d feel guilty for how much she enjoyed the way he would get all possessive and protective but she knew he loved it just as much when she got that way over him. 

“I just left you! Left you and Mickey, on this ship with droids still wandering about with a taste for human flesh and nothing to defend yourself?” He was breathing heavily, eyes flashing. 

“Oh I’ll be having words with myself let me tell you that.” The Doctor strode forward and he cupped Rose’s cheek in his hand for a moment, his pale eyes searching hers. He gave a little shudder.

“I can’t imagine what he was- what _I_ was thinking. What I would have done if you had been - ” 

Cutting himself off, his hand dropped from her face and he grabbed her hand instead, giving it a squeeze. “Come on. Back to the TARDIS”

It was disorienting how quickly Rose flashed between emotions. Elation and smug satisfaction. Gratitude. Feeling like her Doctor, the proper Doctor was finally home. 

And horror and guilt at that thought a millisecond later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has also turned out way more serious than I intended. Hopefully this made sense, I've been agonizing over it the last few days. Please let me know what you thought and what you would like to see! The other bits I’ve got written for this are mostly 9 being soft for Rose, the Doctor making fun of himself, and the Doctors having a pissing contest over Rose lol.


End file.
